Hyundai promotes Scott Grant

HYUNDAI Motor Company Australia (HMCA) has promoted sales director Scott Grant to the position of chief operating officer, replacing John Elsworth who resigned last month.

The appointment of Mr Grant, who joined HMCA in October last year to replace Damien Meredith on his move to Kia Motors Australia, is effective immediately.

The company expects to announce a replacement for Mr Grant in the sales role in the New Year.

Mr Grant has had a 27-year career in the automotive industry, starting out at Toyota and Lexus where he spent two decades in various senior roles, including divisional general manager of Lexus.

He spent about four years with Toyota in the United States as corporate manager of marketing (national advertising).

In May 2007 he was recruited as managing director of Holden Special Vehicles, but left unexpectedly the following year.

Since then he has had stints at heavy machinery company Komatsu Australia, where he was group general manager of customer support and business development, and more recently at customer loyalty specialist Smart Trade International, as executive director and CEO.

Mr Grant said the Hyundai appointment was a great honour.

“Hyundai goes from strength to strength in Australia, with brilliant products and a strong dealer network, and I’m sure we will see even more success in the years to come,” he said.

Mr Grant will report to HMCA CEO Charlie Kim, who said Mr Grant had shown great capability in the role of director of sales and was a natural fit for the COO position.

“I congratulate him for his hard work and dedication, and I am sure he will be a highly successful and inspirational chief operating officer,” he said.

As GoAuto reported on November 9, Mr Elsworth quit HMCA to spend more time with his family.

He had been with Hyundai for three years after being recruited from Holden where he had spent 22 years.

This year, Hyundai is on track to achieve an annual sales record above 100,000 vehicles. To the end of October, Hyundai sales were up 3.2 per cent, to 86,429 units, placing it in third position behind Toyota and Mazda.